


Tough love

by Anything1234



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Tower, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Protective Avengers, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Peter Parker, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Teen Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2019-11-12 23:14:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18020306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anything1234/pseuds/Anything1234
Summary: After Peter Parker's victory against the Vulture he is elated. However, he brought himself to the attention of SHIELD and therefore all the Avengers. They begin to train him with disastrous consequences, but perhaps the relationships he forms will allow him to grow more than any training they could give him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey this is my first fanfic! All constructive criticism appreciated!

Tony rubbed his hand over his face trying to wake himself up. He’d locked himself away in the lab two days ago when he started his project and stopped FRIDAY from notifying him of anyone trying to enter since then. 

At 2 AM, 7 hours and 13 cups of coffee later, he finally slinked out of his lab for some food. However, he walked into the kitchen and was stopped short by three accusing glares on him.

“Please tell me I’m hallucinating this bizarre midnight meeting” he whispered to himself.

“Look who finally decided to enter the realm of the living” said Nick Fury smoothly.

Steve and Natasha sat on either side of him, but while Steve looked at Tony concern discernible in his eyes, Natasha deemed him not worthy of her attention and turned back to intently peruse the files in her hands.

“Well I’m starting to regret it if you are the first person I meet” replied Tony who thus far, had been successful in artfully avoiding every single occupant of the Tower since they’d moved in. “Why are you here?” he addressed Fury curtly already planning how to get back to his lab.

“Spiderman”

That stopped him in his tracks. That was the last thing Tony even expected. 

“How do you know who Spiderman is?” he asked dangerously. 

“Was he even trying to maintain a secret identity?” Fury asked derisively laughing. “After he crashed that plane on the beach to ‘take down’ the Vulture, it was child’s play to trace back the damage to the school” he said, holding up the picture of the dented school bus in Midtown Tech on Homecoming night. “The kid keeps a suit in his locker, makes his web fluid in the chemistry lab and gossips about his spider manning to his friend everywhere. We had his identity in 12 hours.”

“Fuck” muttered Tony under his breath. When was this kid going to give him a break? He knew exactly what Peter had done even after he took away the suit, but he was taking some time to process how to deal with it. Yeah, the kid had done a good job with the Vulture but he still ignored literally everything Tony told him, and he knew that it could have resulted very differently.

“God Tony! Why would you even bring that kid into this?” Steve exclaimed suddenly.

“He was doing this long before I got involved” Tony flared up. “I just gave him better and safer equipment to do it with!”

“Well what about all the damage he’s caused with your equipment then?” Steve shot back immediately. “That bodega that was completely destroyed when he engaged with those thieves, the ferry he literally got sliced in half? And even though he may think everything is great because he took down the Vulture, that plane was literally kilometres away from destroying the city. Something that would not have happened if you nipped this in the bud and got actual professionals to handle it!”

“I did try to nip it in the bud! God I even took his suit away after the Ferry incident!” Tony said, losing his patience.

“Looks like your mentorship was great then” Natasha inserted dryly. “Seeing as the next thing he did was put on a onesie, engage with a man carrying weapons in his school and go on to crash a plane filled with alien tech and explosives right next to a city.”

“Look this kid is more stubborn than I even expected – “said Tony, defending himself.

Fury cut across him “Well it doesn’t matter anymore, I’ve taken matters into my own hands. The kid has summer holidays. I sent agents to talk to him yesterday.” 

“Talk to or intimidate?” Tony muttered shrewdly.

Skilfully ignoring him, Fury continued “Starting tomorrow, for the remainder of his summer, Parker will live here and you will train him. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t want to be an avenger, vigilantes are dangerous, and he has a lot to learn before he can be trusted to continue this solo act.”

“And what about his parents, how will they react to-” Steve began suspiciously.

“I’ll deal with the parents.”

“How do we know he won’t just run away back to mommy the second we are tough on him? If we must tiptoe around him then there’s no point to the training. We need to be able to train him with our own methods!” Steve insisted.

Once again cutting him off, Fury said dismissively “Believe me, he won’t.”

None of them seemed satisfied with that answer but Fury’s look was enough to stop even Tony from pursuing the matter.

“What makes you think we even have the time to deal with an obstinate teenager? And what makes you think he will cooperate?” challenges Tony trying to go for a different angle. 

“I have sufficient evidence to believe that he will cooperate so that’s not going to get you out of it. And I would say that you either find time now or somewhere down the line you’ll find yourself having to send Damage Control down to the city again for the next thing he blows up” Fury throws over his shoulder as he walks out of the door, uncaring of the effect his pronouncement makes.

“What an asshole” said Tony nursing an oncoming migraine.

“Tony, look he might be great kid, but you have to agree that he’s got no experience and needs some discipline” Steve said seriously.

“Does it look like we have a choice anyways?” replied Tony starting to follow Fury out the door.

“No” Natasha said blocking his way. “If we’re doing this we need to do it right and do it together. He needs some tough love and the three of us are going to take charge of his training. Agreed?” she asks smoothly. 

“Fine” said Tony and for the first time that night he looked her in the eyes. “I’m taking this seriously. And we are going to need to be tough, because now we know from experience, he loves disobeying me” he said rolling his eyes. 

And with that agreement, they left the kitchen, ready to meet Peter in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They meet Peter!

“Parker!” Steve shouted, when he saw the kid at the entrance of the tower. This is Spiderman? He thought with disbelief. The kid was wearing an oversized sweatshirt which he was compulsively pulling at the strings of, and his head was turning in all directions so rapidly, he was getting tired watching him exude that much energy. All that energy focussed on him as the security guards brought Peter over and Steve swore he heard a tiny ‘ohmygod’ under his breath.

“Um, hi “said Peter breathlessly “You’re Captain America…. Wow…. You are a lot bigger than I thought. I mean in a good way. I mean not good in that way but- “ 

“Hi, nice to meet you Parker” Steve said smilingly, stopping his fanboy rambling and holding out his hand to shake. “I’ll take him up” he added to the guards as he led Peter to the elevator.

“Um so where are we going?” asked Peter, his voice an octave higher betraying his nervousness. He had already met Tony Stark and was barely over that that and now he was going to meet all of them?   
Starstruck though he was by the tower and the fact that he was going to meet actual superheroes, he couldn’t forget the real reason he was here. They didn’t trust him.   
Before his question was answered the elevator doors opened to the common room and Peter blinked in disbelief. It was like he had been suddenly ushered on stage with a spotlight on him, and the audience were the avengers. Steve walked out briskly and Peter followed behind cautiously. 

“You look like you think we are going to kill you” Tony pointed out bluntly. He didn’t acknowledge Peter’s eager wave and high pitched “Oh hi Mr. Stark!”

“Well, although she,” he continued, pointing to Natasha, “might already have 116 different ways to do so, I can assure you with an admittedly questionable amount of confidence that she won’t. But I might.” He got straight to the point, uncaring that Natasha, Bruce, Bucky, Rhodey, Clint and Vision were waiting in the room to be introduced. “So, lets summarize. After I confiscated the multimillion-dollar suit that you hacked into, after you almost killed a ferry load of people and interfered with the cops handling the case and after I told you not to, you decided to confront the Vulture yourself- “

“Mr. stark, I- “Peter winced. He really hadn’t expected Mr. Stark to be all that mad about his disobedience because he did end up saving all his stuff from the weapons guy! Also, he was literally surrounded by the avengers and now, was about to get reprimanded for something that he thought was quite heroic.

“No. Zip it. The adult is talking” Tony hissed. “You then got into an altercation outside a school full of unarmed kids, confronted the Vulture and somehow managed to damage a building to the point where it collapsed.”

“I’m pretty sure that building did a lot more damage to me than I did to it” muttered Peter mutinously.

“What was that Parker?” asked Steve in a dangerously innocent tone.

Before he could even answer, Tony continued on his rant “And whose fault is that! I had 20 different ways I could have gotten you out of there if I knew what you were doing! But of course, since you were blatantly disregarding everything I told you, there was no way I could do anything.”

“And if you hadn’t taken away the suit I would have been able to contact you!” exploded Peter, surprising even himself with his anger. ‘Or even given me your number’ he thought bitterly; although he didn’t say it aloud, for fear it would make him sound to childish. ‘Well’ he grimaced, ‘more childish than Tony is already making him feel.’

“Oh no” jeered Tony derisively “You don’t get to pull that teenager, talking back bullshit with us. We’re the avengers Pete, and I didn’t sign up to deal with this. You can grow the hell up and accept what you did or deal with our consequences.”

The tension was palpable as they all stared at Peter, Tony glaring, waiting.

“Mr. Stark you don’t understand, I didn’t have a choice at the time- “Peter pleaded softly, not wanting to seem argumentative. 

“You know what? Shut up. I don’t want to even hear anything else out of you at this point. Captain will you do the honours?” Tony said with a scoff and turning away from Peter with a last burning look.

Peter had the sense to not argue further after he was fixed with that look and kept his mouth firmly shut. Since he had walked in, all the avengers watched the argument with bated breath; they finally decided to look away when they saw Peter bit his lips with fear as he looked at them, unease written all over his body. 

Steve cleared his throat as though preparing himself for something unpleasant. “Obviously taking away your suit doesn’t do any good, since I know you’d go out regardless. Instead, Spiderman is going to take a break.”

“What the hell!” said Peter rather more aggressively than he meant to. “Captain..” he added, in a feeble attempt to make himself sound more respectful. He took a deep breath. He couldn’t believe he just swore at Captain America. 

“Sir I- “he began to apologize. Before he could stammer the words out, Natasha walked up to him posing an intimidating figure looming over him and said softly “Remember who you are talking to.”

Peter gulped “Umm, sorry” he muttered.

This time it was Tony who said silkily “What was that Pete?”

“Err… I’m sorry Captain” he said loudly this time, raising his head and forcing himself to meet his eyes, which were a disturbing height away. “But sir” he addressed Steve with a hint of desperation, unable to stop himself “did you see the news last night? Two people died because I didn’t go patrolling when Fury’s agents visited me!”

“For now, that’s not your concern” deadpanned Steve.

He was dumbstruck. With the air of someone trying to be reasonable he asserted “That’s literally my job. For how long will you stop me from doing it? You guys are too busy fighting aliens to worry about the little guy!”

A hush fell over the room and Peter knew he went to far with his accusation. He opened his mouth to fumble out an apology but-

Steve suddenly stepped towards Peter and grabbed his arm. His enormous fingers easily encircled it and pulled him close to his face. “It’s not your job anymore, Parker, because we say it is not. There is going to come a time when you are not equipped to handle something you see out there, and a lot more people than you have ever saved, could die because of your misinformed actions. You will patrol again when we say you can. And don’t forget, while you are here, we are also your commanding officers. That means when we tell you something, you listen, even if it’s a punishment you don’t like. If I tell you to goddamn sing, you’d better goddamn sing. Got it?”

Peter couldn’t bring himself to do anything but nod numbly. The aura of power around him made Peter glad he was never on the opposing side of a fight with him. He couldn’t bring himself to look into Captain’s eyes; he knew although his voice may have been waspishly soft, his eyes were blazing with anger. Once Peter’s breath started hitching in his throat, he released his arm; Peter stumbled away, rubbing his sweatshirt clad arm where Steve gripped had him, and looking down.  
“And as for us being too busy to help the ‘little guy’, we spend that time training to prevent the next world ending event” put in Rhodey quietly. 

Peter, his mouth running before his brain could stop himself, said, “Don’t you think having a building dropped on me, almost catching on fire and having to fight my girlfriend’s father was punishment enough without being benched?” Not to mention facing the combined wrath of an ex-assassin, three ex-soldiers, a former CEO, a world-renowned scientist and an android leaving him quacking.

“Obviously not, if you are still arguing that what you did is right” said Steve tightly.

“And what do you mean building dropped on you?” said Tony abruptly.

Peter was silent. He didn’t mean to let that slip.

“Parker. Answer him” growled Natasha.

“Um no, not dropped on me… not exactly… like I wasn’t inside. I mean I kinda was… but like not underne-” Peter fumbled with his words in his anxiety.

“Were. You. Under. The. Building?” Tony said warningly. 

When Peter didn’t answer, Natasha cautioned “You are pushing your luck with the wrong people boy”

Peter took a deep breath and steadied himself to make his lie believable. “No, I was just exaggerating. It didn’t fall on me. I made it out.” 

An uncomfortable silence ensued, where Natasha kept her gaze fixed on the squirming teenager, and Steve didn’t break the silence, satisfied with Peter’s discomfort. Tony still had him fixed with a withering glare. But they had apparently decided to let his lie pass because none commented any further about it.

Bruce, ever the pacifist, spoke for the first time to Peter. “Do you have homework for the summer?”

Peter, starting at the surprising question, after a considerable pause, stammered out “Uh what- ye.. yeah I do.”

“Try that again without stammering” pressed Natasha apparently deciding that Peter wouldn’t be retreating without being completely chastised.

“Yeah I do” muttered Peter, now thoroughly embarrassed that the avengers, literally his lifelong idols, had such an awful start with him. He was so sure that Tony would once again ask him to speak up now that he had mumbled again.

Bruce, having pity on the now steadily reddening teen, stepped in as a divine intervention and said “Alright Peter, FRIDAY will show you to your room, maybe you can get started on that homework? You won’t be starting your training today but once you do you might not have much time to finish it.”

Peter nodded fervently, happy to leave the spotlight he’d been placed in and retreated to the elevator hastily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so I know that they were really tough with Peter in this but like I do feel that with all of their past and history that's the best way they can imagine teaching. Like Steve was in the army so he is used to it, Tony's dad was supposed to be pretty cold with him and Natasha basically grew up in the Red Room. So in their minds they think it's the right way to train a kid. Constructive criticism appreciated!  
> Also I didn't edit and don't have anyone to read through it so please feel free to point out any mistakes!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starting some more interactions with the Avengers.

It was pretty early in the morning after his tragic first meeting with the Avengers. In fact, he’d been determinedly spending the following hours fantasizing all manner of preferable first impressions. They included (but were not limited to) swinging in to save one (or all) of their lives followed by a hearty congratulations from each of them in turn. This activity, though providing a brief reprieve from his embarrassment, was time consuming. About three hours in (around the time he was single-handedly infiltrating a Hydra base and was being lauded by Bucky and Natasha, both of whom he had pushed out of the way of approaching bullets) he decided it was time for his head to depart the pillow which it had been squished into since he had entered the room and thrown himself on to the bed.

With a load groan of dismay, he saw that it was already way darker outside than he thought it should be. He checked his phone and exclaimed “Shit! It’s already 3?” 

Causing him to jump onto the ceiling in fright, a polite voice unexpectedly replied to his question “Yes Mr. Parker. I can confirm that it is in fact 3 AM.”

“Oh FRIDAY it’s just you” he said in relief, crawling down the wall. “You remind me of Karen!” he said a bit sadly. He was going to miss Karen who was his confidant for all his spider-man related issues. He had a secret hopeful voice whispering inside his head, that now he was in a tower full of superheroes, there were many who would understand his problems. However, the thought of their sharp words from earlier quickly extinguished that. He had put in all that effort to impress Mr. Stark but only succeeded in cementing the idea to all the Avengers that he was too young for all this.

“We both do have the same creator” replied FRIDAY. Peter fancied to himself that he heard a trace of pity in her voice and marvelled at the intricacies in her coding that Mr. Stark must have come up with to make her so perceptive. Unfortunately, none of the avengers were as sympathetic to his plight. He was still fuming that they had taken away his suit and was determined (if wrongly) to bring it up again.

At this Peter slumped over to his table and thought he had better get started on the homework Dr. Banner told him to do. He knew he should be grateful that he was no longer being reprimanded by Mr. Stark, but he found that quite difficult now he was being stared in the face by his math textbook. His high hopes of working in the lab with Mr. Stark were quickly doused with the effect that only advanced calculus could have. After about four hours of listlessly staring at his book and heavily writing down some problems he could no longer ignore his growling stomach.

Still unused to FRIDAY, he hesitated to ask her if he could even leave his room. However, once his stomach decided to imitate a whale call in its hunger, he felt a surge of anger. Avengers or not they couldn’t confine him to his room like a toddler! His thoughts turned bitterly to the way they reprimanded him like a school child (which he was but that’s beside the point) and he could feel the resentment toward Mr. Stark whirling around deep in his chest. He wasn’t going to sit and wait timidly until they called him. Pushing open the door decidedly, he made his way into the corridor. He proceeded to roam the endless halls in wonder, breakfast forgotten until after numerous turns his super hearing picked up voices. He walked stealthily up to the door they were floating out of and saw most of the occupants of the tower strewn about the room. Some of them obviously having just woken up, were nursing cups of coffee under heavily lidded eyes, while some (Steve and Sam) were in sweat soaked shirts having obviously been up for quite a while, and were at the helm in the kitchen.

“- quite desperate to be part of it but we know that’s out of the question. We will need to make that clear” Rhodey said.

“Oh trust me he’ll be in an opposite mind soon. It’s the big leagues now and it’s not going to be an easy let down once we start. In fact, I think after last night-” 

“-Um” Peter interrupted Natasha as his blundering greeting to make his presence known. He couldn’t stand them sitting there and discussing him as if he wasn’t just as capable. His shame from yesterday was slowly giving way to anger at their gross underestimation of his abilities and he thought grimly to himself that they would not know what hit them and he would make sure of that in his training. The not-so-angry, more sensible part of his brain just cringed at his ineloquent greeting and prayed to all the gods above that they would let that slide. Did he not learn anything from last night? Apparently Natasha had the same question judging by the look she was giving him.

All of their heads whipped towards him and then back in unison as if they weren’t just surprised with his arrival. It was almost comical. After all they had reputations as ‘Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ to uphold and knew he was coming before he even stepped out the door. Of course they did.

“Morning Spiderling” said Mr. Stark gaily, obviously letting his awkward address slide and giving no indication to their conversation from last night.

Peter unsure whether he should he should think of this gesture as generosity or indifference answered quietly “Good morning Mr. Stark”.

“Slept well Parker?” asked Steve over from the kitchen counter.

“Yeah I slept fine I guess” replied Peter, deciding they were definitely not going to approve of him staying up to do homework on account of the hours he had spent sulking.

“Want some breakfast?” asked Steve ignoring the tell tale under eye dark circles. “Here” he said placing a plate on the counter and motioning for Peter to get it.

“Thanks!” said Peter brightening considerably on seeing the portions. “Woah this is amazing! My foste- uhm… I mean, yeah… looks great” he floundered. ‘Great job’ he thought to himself. ‘You couldn’t even hold your tongue for a day’.

Steve puzzled at his stumbling words, just gave him a curious look and said “Well, eat up”.

Thankful that they didn’t press, Peter began enthusiastically shoving spoonful’s down his throat. He looked up occasionally to pick up bits and pieces of their conversation. Ignoring a twinge of regret when he heard Mr. Stark talking about work in the lab with Dr. Banner, Steve reading the newspaper next to Sam, whose face was curiously irate, Clint and Vision were talking about Wanda who apparently was in Sokovia to soothe some homesickness and Rhodey was close to nodding off. At a moment like this Peter was almost envious that he couldn’t relax or be casual like the rest of them were. But Natasha made it very clear yesterday and today that he wasn’t one of them. He knew that he had to be respectful but he wished could loosen up around them in situations like this. Oh well. He will just show them today in training what they’re dealing with.

Sam turned to Peter and asked "Did you do your homework last night?" 

"Yeah I did Mr. WIlson" said Peter as innocently as possible hoping they wouldn't ask exactly how much of it he did. Sam looked almost disappointed with his answer; like he wanted someone to unload his irritation upon. Peter had a sneaking suspicion that his bad mood might have something to do with the fact that it wasn't easy to go jogging alongside a super soldier. Either way, it was unfair that he was trying to catch him out and Peter decided he liked him even less than the rest who yelled at him last night.

* * *

He was freaking out about the crazily amazing gym. It was enormous and had enough machines that he would take about a month to figure and try all of them out. Bouncing on his toes, itching to try them out he waited for instructions. Clint and Bucky were nearby wrapping their wrists with an experienced air, while Steve was in workout clothes. Peter felt bad for the seams that had to hold his shirt together against his bulging muscles and once again felt that familiar flutter of admiration for his heroes. He supposed the fan boy inside him would never go away, irregardless of their harsh words. He looked all around he wondered which of them he would fight, or which machines he would work on today.

* * *

It had now been three hours and at this point he was panting faster than the ticking of the clock his overly sensitive ears were picking up, sweating profusely through his soaked clothes and radiating enough heat that he could surely make an omelette on his back. Thus far he hadn’t touched any of the machines. But he had watched Bucky flip Sam onto his back for the third time. Watching Natasha and Steve spar was a task in itself and he found himself staring slack jawed at Natasha’s grace and Steve’s brute strength. However, all thoughts of showing all the Avengers what he was made of, in a spectacular display of strength and agility were out the window. Steve hadn’t said a word to him since he entered and Natasha shouted out instructions to him with gritted teeth, while busying herself with their own activities. 

“Parker” shouted Sam sharply. “Head out of the clouds”.

Natasha so far had him lift varying weights and throw them across the room (which was more dull than it sounds) and then had him jump on and then off blocks of increasing heights for two hours. He had just finished 200 push ups into backflips and was ready to crash into his bed for an entire week. “I just finished the push ups” retorted Peter defensively.

“And you thought instead of opening your mouth and telling me, you’d take a break?” asked Steve looking away from his fight for the first time, irritated.

“No.. sir - I didn’t-“ stammered Peter shocked now that he had the full weight of Steve's glare on him. It lasted about two seconds before he turned away again.

“Kid that wasn’t an actual question. You want us to take you seriously, you need to take your training seriously. That means you don’t just slack off when one of us looks away” said Sam savagely.

Peter was fuming at this point. They could barely bother themselves with training him and they blamed him for slacking off? He could do all of this on his own. “I am taking it seriously, but you guys-” he began, defending himself 

Once again he was cut off. “30 rounds. 20 minutes” Natasha said dismissively and already moving into a defensive stance against Bucky whom she was sparring next.

“I can’t do that” said Peter aghast. “Miss. Romanov” he added hurriedly at Steve’s narrowing eyes. The gym was enormous and he was already ready to drop. And a small part of him wanted Natasha to just look at him, even if it was to tell him off for arguing.

She didn’t. “10 minutes now” she said, blocking the first punch from Bucky.

Peter heard the hard tone her voice took on and noticed that it happened every time she spoke to him. He caught Clint’s eye, who just tapped his watch with a small smirk and make a ‘hurry up’ motion with his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey finally uploaded this chapter! I have a plot unfolding but I'm just starting off by building up their interactions. Will be more angsty in the next few chapters probably, but this one did help progress the plot a bit.  
> Please comment, advise and criticize! It is my first fanfic and I really haven't written much at all until this.  
> ALSO I HAVEN'T WRITTEN AHEAD TOO MUCH, SO PLEASE FEEL FREE TO GIVE ANY SUGGESTIONS, IDEAS OR ONE SHOTS YOU'VE WANTED TO SEE DONE.  
> This POV of the avengers with Peter hasn't been done too much so lmk anything you want me to explore further. Also don't worry they will start to communicate and fix their relatioship a bit later on. And there will be more moments with tony and peter.  
> Thank you!


	4. Chapter 4

Peter remained in the gym for about two hours after the rest of them went up for dinner. Having not finished the 30 rounds in 10 impossible minutes the first time round, Natasha threw over her shoulder as she left that he could come up when he managed to do it. Once he had, it took all his remaining effort to drag himself up the stairs, to crash on his bed. Unmoving, he lay there, sluggishly wondering why he was even there if they couldn’t be bothered to deal with him.  
He did not know, that at this time tomorrow he would be wishing to go back to a session where they ignored him.

* * *

His head slammed the mats for what felt like the 18th time and his vision was going black around the edges. Natasha’s voice from above grated on his head, overly sensitive hearing exacerbated by his fatigue “Get up”.

With a groan he managed to push himself up by his elbows slowly while his muscles complained at the movement. “Just wait… wait one second” he panted when he saw Natasha resume her defensive stance.

She shot him a questioning look.

“Well it’s not exactly training if you don’t let me get up for long enough to get in the moves you want me to do!” exclaimed Peter angrily.

“Get up then”.

It was a silent challenge for him to argue again and they both knew it. Natasha was quietly dangerous, indifferent, daring him to talk back, with threatening undertones. Steve and Sam treated him like he was a soldier in the army. He was yet to decide who would win the prize for World-Class Asshole, but Sam was the closest contender. At least Steve and Natasha screamed at him while they were teaching him something. Sam was just there whenever he needed someone weaker to take out his frustrations on. Peter got up warily when Steve came up on his other side. “Do the roundhouse kick” he said, folding his arms.

Natasha raised an eyebrow, clearly giving him the floor to attack first. He wound up his leg behind him, threw it into a wide sweeping motion while rotating his body. His foot actually made contact with her chest and the sheer strength made her jolt backwards. Before he could rejoice in his first hit, she had grabbed hold of his leg and pulled sharply, his other leg giving way to slam his head onto the ground. Eyes still not completely in focus, he clambered up onto his knees “Did you see that?” he asked excitedly trying to see their reaction. “I mean I did it for the first time!”

“I’ve told you four times that the front of your foot has to hit her. That’s three times too many” said Steve firmly ignoring Peter’s smile.

“Yeah I know, but I still hit her and-”

“And the next time you do it that way your ankle will crack from the impact on the side” said Steve flatly.

He couldn’t stop the frown from pulling at his face, a sour expression taking over. He barely restrained himself from rolling his eyes but they could all see his glare. The rush of exaltation he had felt on performing it was quickly doused by Steve’s words. He tried to school his expression; showing his defiance, was not worth them sending him back.

“Stop acting up and start listening” Sam said sharply at his dour expression. 

“Kid this is just a reality check for what you are getting yourself into” said Steve with something resembling patience.

“Oh he’s just sulking cause he realised; it’s not playtime anymore!” Sam mockingly.

A year of harsh upbraiding from his guardians flashed through his mind. Fury must not have told the Avengers anything if they thought his life was playtime till now. But he didn’t intend to let them send him back to that anytime soon; he kept his replies to himself and tolerated their rebukes as he was so used to doing by now.

“Do it again. Do it right this time” Steve demanded.

Peter scrambled to his feet again his mind swirling with all the things that he had to remember. ‘Widen your stance, tilt your body, turn on the heel, elbows in, torso straight, _use the front of the foot’_ he thought to himself repeatedly as he wound his leg backwards. He swung it through the air, determined that Steve would not have anything to say about his technique this time. Then, his leg kept going, past the point he had expected it to meet Natasha, and he spun to the floor in an ungainly dive. He looked up to see Natasha standing amusedly, out of reach of his foot. Thinking so much about the move itself, he completely and utterly missed her and she didn’t even have to make a move to bring him crashing to the ground. All three of them just stood there, laughing at him. He sat up and massaged his temples angrily, trying to keep his tone respectful “I’m sorry sir”, he addressed Steve, “I’m just… I’m thinking too much” he offered.

“Thinking too much?” Steve asked, the smirk off his face, “I would say you aren’t thinking enough”.  
After a tense silence Steve finally spoke heavily, “Get off the floor. Be smarter. This time maybe think with your brain and then do it”.

He had barely lifted his foot off the ground before Natasha knocked out his knees from under him. “20 push ups. You were going to use the side of your foot again. Do that one more time and I’ll actually break it”.

Peter tremulously lowered himself into the position. At this point his arms were shaking uncontrollably. He winced with each one and his muscles screamed in protest. At the 16th one his arms gave in and caved at the elbows. He looked up at Natasha with wide eyes, pleadingly almost.

“Do you really want to do this?” asked Natasha finally, after looking seriously into his eyes for a few tense moments.

“I do”.

“Then you need to work harder. You can barely fend yourself against one of us”.

“I’ve been doing this long before I met you and I was doing perfectly fine”.

“Yeah, perfectly fine. But there will come a day when you’ll have to fight someone who isn’t a bike thief, or a jaywalker and on that day, with this attitude, you will not win”

“I didn’t realise you were such an expert on my future! Should I take notes?”

“I am not here to respond to each of your hormone inflated emotions. Lose the attitude. If you aren’t interested, if you are aiming for mediocre; save yourself the aggravation, save us the time. We’re done wasting it on someone who will never be part of the Avengers.”

The words struck Peter with the force of a truck. They couldn’t know how many times he had heard that word _mediocre,_ said in such distaste towards him. They couldn’t know how much he yearned for their approval. They couldn’t know of his dreams of being an Avenger being dashed by their words. His emotions were choking him and he could feel the tears pooling and valiantly tried to keep them from falling. “Can I …. can I use the restroom?” he asked breathlessly.

“What?”

“May I use the restroom?”

“No. You aren’t going to run in there and cry. You are 15 not 5. Toughen up” snapped Sam startlingly furious at the sight of his eyes welling with tears. “Ohhh kid, if you cry _one_ tear, you are doing a thousand push ups”.

Silence followed his pronouncement. Even Natasha and Steve didn’t know how to deal with his emotions. They all knew how to train a soldier, a fighter. They could reprimand him when he was being a brat. They could rebuke his attitude. But faced with Peter in tears, who had until now taken everything with bleak eyes, they didn’t know how to react. And this wasn’t a bratty, entitled waterworks display for pampering. They could see him struggling to hold it back, and the fear in his eyes made them see him as the child he was for the first time, and not a trainee.

Unable to restrain himself under their watchful gazes anymore, Peter turned heel and walked out of the room before they could say anything else. He left a heavy pondering silence in his wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops really angsty.  
> Once again please let me know what y'all want to read because I can definitely incorporate a lot since I have a pretty loose plot (but I do have one although it will progress pretty slowly).  
> Let me know If you want to see more Tough Avengers, or them starting to be a bit nicer.  
> Thank you!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thank you all so much for your encouragement and comments! Hope you enjoy!

Peter wished he could say that when he walked into the kitchen an hour later for dinner, he walked into an atmosphere of anger, or maybe even guilt. Instead he might as well have had a sign saying ‘ignore me’ on his forehead, for all they reacted. As he ventured bravely into the fray, he desperately hoped that Natasha or Sam hadn’t told the rest of them about their training session. He still believed his reputation was salvageable in the eyes of Mr. Stark and Banner who weren’t present in any of his daily torture sessions. And no, he was not being melodramatic about that.

Usually he just dumped whatever food was closest onto his plate and retreated as quickly as possible. Hastily exiting with his plate, he winced when he was stopped by Captain.

“That’s not enough” he said.

The gears visibly whirled in Peter’s head as he tried to figure out what he was referring to. Coming up with absolutely no viable options he decided the best course of action would be to not say a word. There was a tangible silence as he stared back at Steve waiting for him to elaborate on which of his actions were so unsatisfactory this time.

Steve pointed to his plate. “That’s not enough. For your metabolism and level of exercise, you need more”.

Peter still dumbstruck, promptly dumped two more slices of pizza on his plate. 

Once again as he tried to make his retreat, he was stopped, this time by Tony’s voice. “You do know that you have to eat more to keep up with your weird metabolism right?”

“Er”.

“Aren’t you supposed to be a child genius or something like that. You do go to that fancy STEM school in Queens don’t you?” Tony continued. He said all this looking resolutely away from Peter but at the same time drawing up a chair right next to him rather carelessly.

“Uhhm yeah I do” muttered Peter, very confusedly. Why was he pulling out an extra chair? All of them were already seated. Did he want him to sit there? But that would be really unusual. What if he sat there and someone else walks in. He couldn’t bear it if they told him to leave. But what if they were expecting him to sit and they thought it was rude if he left? And what if he sat down and Tony was just planning to put his legs up on it?

“Don’t mumble” said Tony rolling his eyes and now patting the seat next to him, still with his back to Peter and now addressing the wall opposite him.

“Yeah I go to Midtown Science” said Peter raising his voice in a hurry. OK he was Spiderman, he could just go sit in the chair. It wasn’t that scary. Why else did Tony pat it like that. Or did he even? Yeah he did. Just sit in the chair and if it was for someone else he would just get up. He’d already been embarrassed as thoroughly as possible. There was nothing left for him to lose. He’d faced his foster parents every day hadn’t he? Okay deep breaths. Just walk over casually like this while situation isn’t curbing his ability to speak or think intelligibly. Oh! Maybe he should ask if anyone else is going to sit there! But what if they said yes? Should he leave, or pull up another chair then? Or what if they said no but they were just being polite and didn’t really want him there? Ready to have a stroke, Peter rushed out “Can I sit there?... Um wait I mean may I sit there? I mean only if no one else is I guess”.

“Yeah sure. Whatever”. 

Before he even got the sentence out Peter collapsed gratefully into the seat and then looked around quickly to check that everyone was ok with it. All of them were completely engaged in conversation, having not even noticed his little social anxiety attack. Suspiciously, Peter stared at his pizza as if it was the one making this situation so awkward, and then warily lifted it to his mouth. He took the first bite and looked up again. By now even Mr. Stark had totally turned his chair away and was discussing the weather with Natasha. Wait, the weather? Odd but at least now Peter was contentedly shoving the pizza into his mouth. 

A half hour later, Peter finished what was on his plate and was stopping himself from glancing longingly at the last slice in the box. He usually had just enough to eat but was always to shy to come back for seconds. But today it was right there in front of him, and although he did have his fill it was really tempting him. He didn’t contribute to any of the conversations but his super-hearing picked up snippets of all of them. Although he found it odd that all of them had engaged into a very thorough and lengthy discussion about the weather, he didn’t question it too much. Tony was exploring the topic so exhaustively, it was clear that he would talk about anything to avoid having to have a conversation with Peter.

“Don’t slouch” commanded Natasha into his ear suddenly, making him straighten up comically, as she leant over him and picked up the pizza box. She took out the last slice, placed it on his plate, closed it and threw the empty box in the trash. Peter, still sitting as though he had an iron rod for a spine, doubtfully picked up the last slice, eyes darting across the room and took a bite. When the world didn’t come crashing down around him, as his highly-strung mind feared, he continued to eat, albeit warily. Too busy wondering about the sudden endowment of so much food, he snapped to attention almost comically at Rhodey’s sharp voice.

“Peter! He just asked you a question!”

“Kid spends half his time with his head in the clouds” said Steve gruffly. Peter couldn’t tell if that was a hint of amusement or annoyance in his voice.

“I was just saying”, said Dr. Banner, “that your webs are highly unusual. I could see how you achieved that amount of flexibility, but it would need much more strength than it could possibly contain.”

Brain already on overdrive having been addressed by Dr. Banner, as well as it being in front of Natasha and Steve, he went into hysterics trying to figure out his response. “Umm yeah it was a bit difficult” he finally said, lamely.

“Do you think you could possibly struggle through a sentence without using ‘um’?” said Mr. Stark, rolling his eyes.

Peter chose (wisely) not to respond to that knowing his anxiety-ridden brain, he would definitely say it again.

Luckily Dr. Banner persisted on his topic, “So without enough strength don’t you think you haven’t been using it to your full advantage?”

“I don’t think the strength is necessary at the cost of flexibility though. I use it most of the time for swinging around and like webbing up stuff”.

“It shouldn’t even be possible to manufacture the webs with enough strength to hold you up though. I’ve done multiple trials. Perhaps you’ve lucked out so far, but technically they shouldn’t be strong enough to hold you if you swing along a really wide arc”.

“I could show you my formula maybe?”

“Kid you really want to argue with him? He just said he’s done the tests! Did you recently get seven PHDs?” inserted Sam sarcastically.

“Did you recently become Spiderman?” shot back Peter. He retorted before his brain could stop himself, and his eyes darted nervously towards Natasha, whose eyes were fixed on him, but he couldn’t read what she was thinking.

“Lets just see how smart-ass you’ll be for training tomorrow” said Sam finally, getting up and walking out of the room. Peter let out a sigh of relief he didn’t know he’d been holding back, that it had not escalated, like earlier today.

“Well kid, after getting your ass kicked in training, come on down to the lab and show us your web formula” said Mr Stark clapping him on the back and smirking at Sam’s declaration.

For a moment, Peter wasn’t so sure he should be giving away his secrets so easily, but then realised that Mr. Stark hadn’t exactly framed it as a question. Besides, who was he kidding? He would sacrifice even Ned’s soul to Satan, to see Mr. Stark’s lab! Even Ned would approve of the exchange.

“Yeah sure that would be cool” trailed off Peter enthusiastically to Mr Stark’s back, as he walked out with a careless wave acknowledging his answer, followed by Natasha.

“I’m very interested to see it then,” said Bruce with an awkward smile at Peter as he too got up and left.

Well, I'll head up to then," sighed Steve getting up with Rhodey.

"Good night Captain," said Peter meekly, but with a cheeriness that he couldn't hide.

Even knowing that he had to get through training tomorrow could not put a dampening on his spirits now! He felt little flare of hope at Mr. Stark’s invitation, and held it close to his chest, determined that it would not be extinguished by their words this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi thanks to everyone who commented and gave kudos!  
> I'm really so busy with school, I absolutely should not be writing but I still am. Oops!  
> I am sorry this took so long to update. I still don't think I'll have a very regular update schedule, but actually now I've figured out my entire plot and story line! So they should be a lot closer together from now on.  
> Also PLEASE COMMENT!  
> I LIVE FOR CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM  
> Once again feel free to point out any mistakes, new suggestions etc!  
> Also I have a question! So I'm pretty new to the site and don't really get how it works. And whenever I'm logged out, I have no idea how to find my fanfic! (like without searching for it in the search bar thing). Like it doesn't show up when I scroll through the works in the tags. So where did you guys get her from? Feel really stupid but yeah ;)  
> Thanks!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your comments and answers! This coming chapter will have mentions of a panic attack so do be careful! It's near the end.

“Kid, my time is worth millions. So, you owe me at least 27 of those Grande, Quad, Non-Fat Frappuccino’s from Starbucks for making me come all the way down here to remind you to come up to the lab”, drawled Tony, strolling through the gym doors. 

“Oh hey Mr. Stark!” wheezed Peter, nowhere to be seen, until Steve got up to reveal a skinny mess of limbs that he had been holding down.

“You good there?” snickered Tony.

“Yeah I’m al-”

“The kid decided to turn up late today, so he isn’t leaving until the three hours are done”, interrupted Steve.

“And why exactly were you late?” asked Tony, somehow looking down at Peter, even though they were both the same height.

Peter, too embarrassed to tell them that he’d been so excited to show them his web fluids that he’d found one of the first fluids he made (in the crevices of his school bag, which also housed half a cookie and multiple wrappers), and promptly webbed his hands together on opening. Instead he came up with, “I uhhh, I couldn’t find my-, umm socks!”

“Mind telling us, why, after approximately an hour of searching for your socks, they are still unmatched?” asked Tony drily.

Wringing his hands, Peter replied, over his inner cringe of despair, “These kind of were the ones I was looking for.”

“When will he be done?” asked Tony, turning abruptly towards Natasha, apparently deciding to not even dignify him with a response.

“When he manages to take one of us down, or he passes out.”

Peter gaped, “Uhm, I’m sorry what d-,”

“Shut up” advised Tony to Peter. Then he whistled amusedly, “Well let’s see it then!”. He settled himself down on the bleachers and trained his eyes towards them in a pose of attention. At their questioning looks he waved his hands impatiently, “Go on! I’m waiting!”

“Ok then!” said Natasha, “Parker, on the mats. Steve or Sam? You pick.”

That was weird. Well, Sam was an absolute jerk-face to him and he definitely trusted Steve a lot more. However, he was an enhanced super human and Peter would cry if he had to endure one more bone-crushing punch that Steve insisted were just ‘barely nudges’. “Err Sam?”

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

“Telling you? No, no wait!” he winced, and deepened his voice to sound a bit more confident, “Telling you.”

Natasha smirked, “Steve?” she said motioning towards the mats.

Steve gave Peter a disapproving grimace as he walked onto the mats. “You are also enhanced Parker, and we are preparing you to deal with anything that comes your way. And that includes non-humans that are much stronger than either of us.”

“Then why’d you even ask?” said Peter exasperatedly.

“Excuse me. Watch who you are talking to.”

Peter forced some control into his voice, “Why did you even ask me? Ma’am?” he added hurriedly.

“Your answer reveals a lot”, replied Natasha shortly.

Suddenly, Steve’s words replayed in his head and he completely ignored Natasha’s answer. He is being prepared for things that might not be human? Hopefully he asked, “Does that mean you are preparing me to be an Avenger?”

Before he could even finish, Tony spoke up from the stands, “No.”

His bubble burst as quickly as it formed, Peter wasn’t even sure how he felt. At some point it would have been his dream to even breath the same air as them, but now he dreaded being around them. Even thinking about training, gave him a stomach ache so bad he couldn’t eat. A new nagging thought crossed his mind for the first time. He didn’t even know why he should want to be in this team of people who thought nothing of him. What did that mean for his future? He was dragged out of his thoughts by Tony. 

Tony’s face was clouded over, an almost haunted look in his eyes that surprised Peter, but his voice betrayed no more emotions, and it disappeared in a second as he said, “Is there usually this much talking beforehand? No wonder it takes three hours.”

“Enough!” snapped Sam, apparently miffed that Peter thought him the easier partner. “Parker, you know what you have to do. No spider powers.”

That order came from a time Peter was so tired being beaten, that when he was paired up with Bucky, rather than take a hit from his metal arm, he leapt up onto the roof and hung there. He only came down once they amusedly agreed to end the session, and was still not over the embarrassment of running like a kid. He was sure that incident itself set himself back more than anything else.

“Look kid, I’m not going to even try knocking you out this time. You have to at least attempt the moves we’ve been showing you, so try use them against me. Don’t just try to stop yourself from getting hit, you’ll tire yourself out. You need to show Mr. Stark exactly what you’ve been doing all this time, got it?” said Steve with an odd hint of gentleness in his tone.

“Show me we aren’t wasting our time”, called Natasha ruining the moment slightly. Nonetheless, Peter squared his shoulders and shook the fatigue from his joints. For the first time they were giving him the benefit of the doubt that he was learning something. He would show Mr. Stark that he wasn’t as useless as they always said.

For once Steve stood in the defensive stance and let Peter approach him. Peter nervously stepped towards him and swung his arm, saw Steve blocking him in a move they were just teaching him, and then feinted to the right. Steve anticipated his move and grabbed his shoulder, slamming him over his head, to the ground.

Peter, wind knocked out of him lay panting on the ground. Standing over him Steve said grimly, “And that was the move that you were supposed to do.”

Over and over, Steve let him attack and then overpowered him using the exact move he was supposed to be using. His brain knew what he had to do but his body wasn’t obeying. Every time he had the upper hand, he immediately faltered in shock. At every point he dithered and didn’t take advantage, worrying that whatever decision he took would be wrong and then he’d be humiliated. So instead, over and over, his indecision allowed Steve to carry out the exact moves he was just taught. He grabbed Steve’s arm and aimed towards his chest with the other. Steve didn’t even block this time. He managed to punch Steve in the ribs and while he recoiled, he had the perfect opportunity. Instead, he froze, not using his leverage and grip on his arm to bring him down and froze, giving Steve enough time to recover and do it instead.

“Parker! He literally stood there like a rag doll waiting for you to do it! What is wrong with you?” said Sam, ready to rip his hair out in frustration.

“Why did you freeze?” asked Mr. Stark.

Peter suddenly felt a surge of resentment. They spent all their time telling him how wrong every decision he made was. How he was too young to do anything right. And now they are surprised that he’s doubting himself? It was all their doing. He was used to this treatment from so many other adults. He had become different from himself; bitter, withdrawn, prickly. Then when he came here he felt some of himself return. His excitement, hope and optimism. He should’ve known that it wouldn’t last

“Why did you freeze?” asked Mr. Stark insistently, almost curiously.

Peter simply shrugged. Why did Mr. Stark even act like he cares? They were frustrated that they had to deal with a kid and were trying to keep him at arms length, to be dropped as soon as Fury allows. All hopes that he might find something new here, that he might not need to go back, were lost by now. He’d tried to be respectful, obedient, willing but it made no difference to them. He might as well go back to being what everyone thought he was.

“You are not in a position to be giving us attitude, Parker.” said Natasha at his shrug. 

He didn’t respond. 

“Fine if you want to do it that way, we will”, said Steve, pursing his lips. He walked towards Peter posing a menacing figure, drawing up to his full height. He grabbed Peter’s arm, probably to carry out the exact move he’d just done over and over again, but this time he couldn’t. He pulled but Peter didn’t budge, he tried to let go but Peter’s arm was stuck to him. Peter was breathing heavily and looking down at his legs. He didn’t even know that he could stick that strongly to something. He looked back at Steve almost disbelievingly and with an effort, wrenched his arm out and unstuck his feet. It was almost like his body did the job for him.

“Mr. Parker, do you recall me saying not a minute ago, that we were practising without using your spider powers?” said Sam

“Yes,” replied Peter stiffly.

“Yes, sir.” hissed Sam.

_“There’s no need to call me sir, Mr.Wilson.” _  
The words flew off his tongue before he even realised it. They all gaped at him, too stunned to say anything. Peter felt the adrenaline rushing through his body, but it was like he was watching the scene from above, unable to look at any of them. He had done it now. They would have had enough of him. And he had no one to blame but himself, as usual.__

__“Ok. We all need a break. Peter, go-” said Natasha quietly._ _

__Go. They wanted him to go. He couldn’t. He just couldn’t go back. He didn’t want to. He didn’t want any of it. “Please- I don’t want to go. Don’t wan- ah. Don’t send me back.” Peter choked out. His breaths weren’t coming in or going out like they were supposed to. They were just sitting there in his chest, unmoving. A dead weight. Just like all words said to him scornfully, dismissively, were physically restricting him. He couldn’t hear them. The edges of his vision were turning blue. He clawed at his chest trying to loosen the ropes around him._ _

__“Parker we’re not sending you anywhere. Just go to your room, we’ll leave too, and all calm down a bit.” said Natasha uncharacteristically gently, looking quizzically towards him. She could see him struggling to catch his breath._ _

__“Hey kid, are you alright?” asked Tony, moving towards him concernedly. He saw him try to choke out a few words, saw his chest heaving with effort and recognised in an instant. For some reason, that was a trigger for him. He didn’t know why, but now was not the time to find out. He approached him slowly and spoke as softly as possible, “We’re not sending you anywhere. Alright? You need to take in deep breaths ok? Follow me. Breath in for four seconds, like this, do it with me.” He took in a deep breath as he spoke and waited until Peter followed suit. “Yes just like that! Then hold it for seven seconds and let it out slowly for eight seconds. Yes there you go!”_ _

__Peter was shaking uncontrollably at this point and had sunk to his knees. Steve, Natasha and Sam saw that Tony was handling it well and stepped back to give him space to breath. Tony knelt right beside him and continued to breathe exaggeratedly, for him to follow._ _

__“Hey, look at me. You aren’t going anywhere. Ok?”_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the help!  
> Yes I know this chapter ended rather suddenly but I kind of needed to split the next part. It will be up pretty soon!  
> Also yes that line is absolutely from Harry Potter I just couldn't resist. Its such a sassy Peter thing to say.  
> Once again PLEASE COMMENT I LOVE IT AND GIVE KUDOS.  
> (yes i'm very shameless about begging, but it genuinely does motivate me when I get an idea about the direction the readers like!)


	7. Chapter 7

Tony’s POV

“Hey, look at me. You aren’t going anywhere ok?”

He allowed the words to pour out of his mouth gently as he could. He had no clue what the kid wanted or needed to hear. But he knew too well what Peter’s reaction meant. Peter didn’t pull his shaking body away, so he assumed that he was doing the right thing and just held him close enough to feel his steady breathing. Sam did have the good grace to look shocked, while Natasha and Steve settled down slowly next to him on the ground, maintaining their distance. This was a silent act of solidarity, meant to convey that weren’t leaving anytime soon, if that’s what he wanted. 

‘How did we even get here?’ thought Tony to himself, in disbelief. A terrible guilt that had been naggingly present since Peter arrived, was now dragged to the forefront of his mind. He had seen it himself, in the kid’s hesitation to sit at the same table as them, shock when they offered him food, and faltering when asked to speak. He chose to look at the times Peter had retorted confidently, angrily, to their scolding as evidence that this was how teenagers just reacted. They all decided between themselves, that he was their student and they were the teachers, that they needed him to learn in their way and in their world. And with that they fell into their own trap. None of them could deny that what they needed to do required a firm hand, but they never thought how it looked to him. Whatever they said to him was with good intentions, he knew that was true for all three of them. But if the kid didn’t know that, they couldn’t possible expect him to see past their stiff facades, and to him they were little worse than bullies. They never thought about being the kid, who couldn’t see the concern they hid so firmly behind their sharp words and to what end? Even he could not justify it.

Peter’s breaths were now returning to normal, and his face, streaked with tears, was being clutched in his hands. Tony looked up and shared a look with Steve who gave him a slight nod in response. “Parker. You feeling better?” he said as softly as he could.

Peter nodded, face still hidden.

“Well if you feel comfortable enough, why don’t you take a minute and go wash up your face if you want. And then if you feel up to it, we can talk for a bit?” he tried to phrase it as much as a request as possible. They were used to ordering him as his teachers. But right now Tony wanted to have a conversation where Peter didn’t have to feel like he had to obey them.

Peter nodded again quickly and slowly rubbing his eyes with his fists, he lifted himself up and walked to the bathroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! I had a huge really important entrance exam so I absolutely could not write anything. And I'm so sorry for this terrible and short chapter which really should be much longer. But I will start updating regularly again and just wanted to put this up quickly to reassure everyone that it hasn't been abandoned! Thank you all so much!  
> Your advice and encouragement motivate me to keep doing this!


End file.
